For me, it was an old VHS tape called Ooh Aah Cantona - The Cantona Phenomenon that changed everything. Before the days of soccer on ESPN or NBCSN, well before the era of YouTube skill show compilations and with the lasting memories of the 2002 World Cup seared into my mind, I was introduced to Eric Cantona.
The number seven emblazoned on his red shirt, striding around the pitch with dad bod physique, his collar upturned and with all the beguiling qualities of an existential Frenchman on his third glass of absinthe, Cantona was a side of football I’d never seen before.
At the 2002 World Cup, the likes of Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan and El Hadji Diouf had played without fear, but this man was something else entirely. His fearlessness didn’t portray arrogance, for there was nothing exaggerated in his play.
He was a visionary whose radical ideas were always then acted upon. If a supporter was bothering him, he’d kick them in the chest. If hacks asked cliched questions, he’d tell them off. But the best part about Eric Cantona were the goals, all the glorious goals.
During his time with Manchester United, Cantona scored 70 goals in 156 Premier League appearances, but none better than this effort against Sunderland in 1996.
According to the Sunderland goalkeeper at the time, Lionel Perez, “this goal shouldn’t exist.” According to Perez, with Manchester United leading 3-0 before this goal, Cantona “had stopped playing. He stayed in the middle of the pitch and didn’t run any more because the game was over.”
However, after Perez saved a Cantona attempt from a Ryan Giggs cross, he supposedly became irate at having been stopped and pulled this off.
